Oliveira2020_Article_SmartHomeTechnologyComparingHo.pdf (879.14 kB)
Smart home technology—comparing householder expectations at the point of installation with experiences 1 year later
journal contribution
posted on 2019-09-11, 14:23 authored by Luis Oliveira, Val MitchellVal Mitchell, Andrew MayAndrew MayThis study, with 19 households, set out to analyse the expected benefits and anticipated challenges to the introduction of smart home technology (SHT), and to compare these to post-use experiences after living with the technology for 1 year. Contextual interviews were undertaken with householders during the installation of a range of SHT, and again approximately 1 year later, when householders had the option to keep the technology or have some or all of it removed. This identified whether initial expectations were met, whether initial concerns persisted and whether new issues, concerns, and benefits (that had not been initially anticipated) arose after an extended period of use. Initial expectations from all households were high—related to comfort, convenience, improved control, energy demand reduction, and integration of technologies. There were also many initial concerns, including reliability, usability, and how these systems would be ‘domesticated’ to fit existing routines. After living with the systems for 1 year, many expectations were met, but the added value (and hence the match between expectations and reality) was higher for households with varied routines and large, partially occupied houses. Some of the anticipated challenges—such as concerns over aesthetics—largely disappeared, issues to do with the awkward location of network components persisted and new issues arose relating to the usability of some components and the time and effort required to configure them. Recommendations are given to maximise the added value that SHT can provide to householders.
Funding
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC): grant number EP/K002457/1
History
Published in
Personal and Ubiquitous ComputingVolume
24Pages
613–626Publisher
SpringerVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
Rights holder
© The AuthorsPublisher statement
This is an Open Access Article. It is published by Springer under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Acceptance date
2019-08-20Publication date
2019-09-06Copyright date
2020ISSN
1617-4909eISSN
1617-4917Publisher version
Language
- en